IP: US humility will speak volumes

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 01:13:26 -0800
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: Einar Stefferud <stef () nma com>
>
> Boston Globe - 11/24/2001 - page A15
>
> US humility will speak volumes   -   By E.J. Dionne Jr.
>
>
> WASHINGTON
>
> ''WHY DO THEY hate us?'' was the headline question after the attacks of
> Sept. 11. After the popular response in Afghanistan to the defeats suffered
> by the Taliban, perhaps we can conclude that it was the wrong question.
>
> It seems that there are many people in the Muslim world, and in the Third
> World generally, who don't hate us at all. Much, it turns out, hangs on what
> the meaning of ''they'' is.
>
> Sure, we can become too self-congratulatory about the Afghan women who are
> overjoyed to be able to go back to work and school and the Afghan men who
> are happy to shave off their government-imposed beards. And yes, the United
> States, like all powerful countries throughout history, can become arrogant
> in its might and self-deluding when it assumes that everyone wants to be
> like us.
>
> But the real danger lies in what might be seen as a national bipolar
> syndrome. This entails a tendency to ignore our virtues entirely at some
> moments and to see ourselves as the only virtuous nation on earth at others.
> Oscillating wildly between self-doubt and hubris is a bad idea for nations,
> as it is for individuals.
>
> ''Why Do They Hate Us?'' is not necessarily a bad question if its purpose is
> to seek a genuine understanding of what others believe about us (correctly
> or incorrectly) and to examine where the United States has, indeed, failed
> as a global leader and neighbor.
>
> We should ask ourselves about our relative indifference to the poorest
> people in the world - an indifference measured by our paltry foreign aid
> budgets, especially where nonmilitary assistance is concerned. We need to
> admit that we have allied ourselves with unsavory regimes, sometimes out of
> necessity. We should not be surprised when we inherit the enemies of those
> repressive governments. We can examine honestly how our global economic
> policies affect others and how go-it-alone foreign policy moves can turn
> even friends into critics.
>
> But doing this should not mean exaggerating the size of the ''they'' out
> there or ignoring the fact that our core national values - democracy,
> freedom of speech, press and religion, pluralism, an entrepreneurial spirit,
> and a basic civic equality - are fundamentally sound and worth fighting for.
> America's mistakes in the world usually grow from a failure to live up to
> our values, not from an effort to practice them.
>
> The truth is that the Osama bin Ladens of the world do not speak for the
> Third World or the Muslim world. Of course, movements and people opposed to
> particular aspects of American foreign policy will speak out for bin Laden
> or the Taliban on the theory that the enemy of their enemy is their friend.
> That doesn't mean they agree with their bizarre view of the world.
>
> And as Benjamin Barber writes in his prescient book ''Jihad vs. McWorld,''
> when people are faced with a pure choice between ''the secular universalism
> of the cosmopolitan market and the everyday particularlism of the fractious
> tribe,'' many will find more meaning in tribalism. If the choices are so
> narrowed, the options come down to ''a bloody politics of identity'' or ''a
> bloodless economics of profit.''
>
> But American values cannot be reduced to economics. As Barber notes, we are
> also committed to democracy. It is democracy that allows us to celebrate but
> also mediate our various identities and to subject the market to values such
> as justice and fairness. And if we can learn one thing from the reaction of
> many Afghans to liberation from the Taliban, it is that the freedoms
> democracy underwrites come as a relief to all who have been subjected to
> radical forms of oppression.
>
> Is it possible for a nation, especially a powerful one, to be confident in
> its values but humble enough to acknowledge its failings and blunders? Can
> we avoid the self-defeating view that assumes that nations must either be on
> the right side of history always or never be worthy enough to participate in
> its making?
>
> One politician grappled rather thoughtfully with this question. ''I don't
> think they should look at us with envy,'' this politician said of the rest
> of the world. ''It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself in
> foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a
> humble nation but strong, they'll welcome us. And our nation stands alone
> right now in the world in terms of power. And that's why we've got to be
> humble and yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom.''
>
> The politician in question spoke those words during the 2000 presidential
> debates. His name is George W. Bush.
>
> E.J. Dionne Jr. is a syndicated columnist.
>
> © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/328/oped/US_humility_will_speak_volumes+.s
> html


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